One Room Challenge Fall 2015

Hey Guys!

Today I wanted to sit down and chat a little bit about one of the roadblocks we hit during this bathroom renovation. Everyone knows that taking on a remodel of any kind in a house that’s a bit older is nearly always going to lead to a surprise of some kind. Thankfully we’ve found no leaks, no lead, no structural issues, no bad wiring. None of the usual culprits at least. So basically we’ve been so blessed in this process. But one thing we did run into is something I’ve never seen brought up before and that’s why I felt like I had to chat about it.

Older faucets don’t have scald guard.

My original design plan involved the use of oil rubbed bronze and brass/gold. One of the pieces I was excited to use in the space is the brass circlet toilet paper holder. It is a beautiful piece, but that wasn’t the only reason for my excitement. The octagonal base actually closely resembles the base of the shower/tub fixtures in our old bathroom. How cool, right?

I figured I’d pull out the ol’ Pinterest trick of spray painting the fixtures and call it a day.

Unfortunately, in one of the visits from potential contractors, it was pointed out to us that the fixtures in the bathroom were original to the build of the house. OK, who cares, was my initial reaction. And then they proceeded to explain what it is (regulates the water temperature so that it doesn’t get too hot, causes scalds or a burn) and I thought that sounded like something we really should have in a house with a 3 year old who likes to start his own baths.

I know it’s the right thing to do to replace the fixtures not only for my child’s safety, but for anyone else who may live in this house in the future.

And that’s when I started having fun looking at new fixtures for the bathroom. Luckily, I’ve had the awesome opportunity to work with Moen for this bathroom remodel. So we did not have to come out of pocket for the fixtures, but they are within the budget we initially set for them.

Bathroom fixtures can we an expense that hits hard, especially if you’ve never taken on a bathroom remodel before. We’re talking hundreds of dollars here. But the great thing about choosing fixtures is that they’re easy to take with you when you move. You see them every day so they provide function but also add to the feel of the space. I personally do feel like they’re worth investing some money into. Especially if you’ve already splurged in another area of the same space. Fancy tile with a basic towel rack? That tile won’t feel as fancy…

The fixtures we chose to use in our space are the MOEN Banbury 4 in. centerset high arc sink faucet, and for the tub/shower we chose to use the Ashville 1-Handle Tub and Shower Faucet. Our toilet paper holder and towel rods are also from the Ashville collection, for reference. One thing I have to note here is that the finish appears to be oil rubbed bronze with gold/bronze peeking through. Those gold spots are actually quite copper. Which works fabulously with out oil rubbed bronze and copper metallics theme.

My home was built in 1954 which meant that we were on the teetering edge of possible problems. While we avoided all the well known problems, scald guard was something I’d never heard of. I hope this gives you helpful insight into the considerations that need to be accounted for in a bathroom remodel and that you’ve found this helpful!

The tile for the floor of our bathroom ended up being a point  for us to save some money. With so many beautiful yet inexpensive tile options (especially for flooring!), it became the easy choice to scale back. I thought it would be fun to explore with you today what my wish list was, alternatives I found to coveted tiles and which tiles I eventually came down to deciding between. Choosing tile doesn’t have to be hard. Know what you want, check out what’s available and narrow it down until you’ve decided.

I had my heart set out on cement tiles. I still want encaustic tiles because they’re beautiful, interesting and reminiscent of tiles you’d find in places like India, Mexico, Morocco and more. I just didn’t feel like that element was essential to developing the global aspect for the theme of the space.

I toyed around a lot with the idea of going with a cement tile look alike. I found several from Home Depot that I really loved. The first one I found (shown below middle) was the closest thing available months ago when I first started looking. It seemed so dark and I didn’t feel like I’d get the vibe from it that I truly wanted. But recently I’ve found the Archivo Ornate tile (below right) and it’s very close to what I wanted. But the price tag kept tugging, I just knew there was something better suited to our budget.

And then there’s the aspect of resale value. If I sell my house in 5 years, will the majority of people viewing the house like the choice? Most likely not. So for the sake of practicality, I chose to wipe these options from the playing field.

Early on in this process, I looked at slate tile floors. They’re incredibly beautiful. I have no reason not to like slate tile. It’s an option that I think would appeal to many buyers and the price isn’t outrageous. But I’m not a big fan of using grey in my decor. It wouldn’t follow the color story of the rest of the home so I scraped it.

I finally hunkered down and chose to go with a wood look floor tile. This actually made things even more difficult, would you believe it!? With so many different finishes and “stains” available, it actually made this the most difficult of all the decisions I’ve had to make. My husband agreed that the wood look tile would look good. We actually made the decision and purchased this past weekend. Can you guess which one we went with?

They’re all 6 inch x 24 inch planks. While the one of the far left is oh so dreamy, it came down to whether or not I’d be able to match a stain to our existing wood floors if we were to never have new floors put in. So I’ve got it saved on a Pinterest board for later, but for right now it was between the middle and right one.

I went with the one on the right. 🙂

At 1.78 a piece, that put my total to cover the bathroom floor (with extra for special cuts and mistakes) at $75ish dollars (I have the Lowe’s credit card so there was also a 5% discount).

And I like that it’s a very neutral color. The middle plank is beautiful but very warm. Against all the blue in the space I worried it would look flat out red.

More than anything, I did not want the boring ceramic tile look that you see in every single builder bathroom right now. I literally loathe those things, so any of these would have been such a massive improvement. But the wood tile is especially rustic and inviting and I’m really excited to have chosen it,.

And we bought it, so it’s happening! Can’t wait to pop in again tomorrow with an update on everything in the space. Yesterday I actually shared a small tutorial for leather tassels on a basket. You should check that out next!

I hope you’re having a wonderful day and that you’ve found this insight to my decision making interesting and helpful!

Please remember that this is how I’ve made my decision. Because it doesn’t make sense for me for that reason, it definitely doesn’t mean that you should base your decision on resale value. While I do think that resale value should be considered, it’s up to you what kind of play you want it to have.